Microwave reactors are known in the art and are utilized to apply microwave radiation to a chemical reaction to a media disposed within the reactor vessel. The application of microwave radiation to a reactor vessel results in the heating of the vessel and as such the media disposed therein and the purpose thereof is to execute a desired organic synthesis. Conventional synthesis methods will utilize other sources of heat such as but not limited to an electric heater or a flame. These methods have proven to be slow and inefficient as conventional heating is dependent upon thermal conductivity. These conventional processes require a significant amount of energy and have shown to produce inconsistent distribution of temperature across the vessel and media disposed therein.
The process of heating by microwave radiation is based on the remote energy transfer to materials by dielectric heating with microwaves. The irradiated materials absorb the microwave energy exposure and convert the energy to heat. Various microwave reactor vessel exist and are constructed from alternate materials. Conventional microwave reactor vessels are manufactured from materials such as but not limited to quartz, ceramic and certain types of glass such as but not limited to borosilicate glass. The aforementioned exemplary construction of conventional microwave reactor vessels result in a transparent to microwave irradiation and as such ensure the energy transfer occurs in the media disposed within the vessel so as to avoid the overheating of the vessel itself.
There are two known types of microwave devices, multimode and monomode devices. Multimode devices are similar to household microwave ovens. Monomode microwave devices are more commonly utilized in chemical and pharmaceutical applications. Monomode reactors have relatively small interiors and the irradiation is directed by a rectangular or circular waveguide onto the reactor vessel which is located a fixed distance from the irradiation source. The two main factors that determine the propensity of heat generation and distribution inside a microwave reactor vessel are structural composition and penetration depth of microwaves.
One problem with existing microwave reactor vessels is the material has a non-homogeneous structural composition which results in a relatively low penetration depth of microwaves. Existing structural compositions of microwave reactor vessels make it very difficult to achieve uniform heat distribution inside the microwave irradiated media.
Accordingly, there is a need for a microwave reactor vessel that provides a superior structure for heating media disposed therein wherein the microwave reactor wall includes a microwave sensitive element that the heat thereof can be transferred to the media disposed within the reactor so as to ensure a homogeneous temperature distribution.